September arrivals drive shoulder season growth

A stellar month of arrivals in September has seen New Zealand’s shoulder season continue to grow - pushing total annual arrival growth to 8.5 per cent equating to over 238,865 additional visitors.

Figures released today by Statistics New Zealand show the growth was driven by holiday arrivals, up 12.8 per cent for the year ending September 2015.

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says it is great to see such strong growth in the shoulder season.

“Tourism New Zealand has made a major shift in its marketing focus, resulting in 80 per cent of our resources and effort now going into promoting shoulder season travel to encourage international travellers to visit during off-peak seasons.

“The benefits of shoulder season travel are numerous - with more accommodation available, prices often more affordable and tourism attractions generally less busy than at peak times.

Australia has seen another month of great holiday arrivals, up 14.7 per cent, pushing arrival figures over the half a million mark for the year ended September to 503,008.

“This is an incredible result out of one of New Zealand’s most important markets,” says Kevin.

“We’re confident more Australians will have New Zealand on their radar after this week’s episode of reality series The Bachelorette goes to air. The 90 minute finale episode was filmed in New Zealand and will be viewed by over 1.4 million Australians this Thursday.”

China continues to go from strength to strength achieving a 40.5 per cent increase in holiday arrivals year on year. Tourism New Zealand’s work with tourism ambassador celebrity Huang Lei, Chinese New Year and Golden week celebrations have all contributed to strengthening this market.

Tourism New Zealand’s prioritised market of India has seen another month of staggering holiday arrivals up 23.9 per cent for the year.

“Earlier this month Tourism New Zealand announced Bollywood star Sidharth Malhotra as New Zealand’s tourism ambassador for India.

“The popular young actor experienced his first taste of New Zealand earlier this month sharing his experiences with his social media following of over 4.3 million and generating significant interest in India,” says Kevin.

Growth has been further supported by strong holiday arrivals across Tourism New Zealand's other prioritised Asian markets with Japan up 14.9 per cent, Singapore up 12.9 per cent, Malaysia up 12.4 per cent and Korea up 20 per cent.

Arrival figures for the markets of the US and Germany have again shown significant growth, with holiday arrivals for Germany up 9.7 per cent and the US arrivals up 14.4 per cent on the same period last year. The UK continues to see growth, up 9.8 per cent.